U.S. Attorney Boutros still due in court Thursday after failing to convince judge to cancel hearing

Boutros’ office also recently convinced U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hotaling to hold off on a sanctions hearing aimed at the feds after a video raised questions about the accuracy of a sworn affidavit in another case.

Boutros’ team argued that Holleb Hotaling had no authority to hold the hearing. The judge agreed to a “brief” delay and sought input from defense attorneys.

Now, McNally has called a hearing over “potential violations” of her order sealing criminal charges against alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. Boutros discussed the case July 1 during a press conference with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.

McNally wrote on the court docket that prosecutors called her chambers at 10:05 a.m. the day of the press conference, seeking an order unsealing the criminal complaint, with certain redactions, claiming they "needed to obtain a ruling within the next 15 minutes.”

The judge did not agree to unseal the complaint until the next day.

U.S. District Court

Boutros wrote Wednesday that he acted in good faith and believed the press conference “complied with the letter and spirit of the sealing order” because it was for the purpose of “facilitating ‘the enforcement of criminal law.’”

McNally’s seal order did “not prohibit law enforcement personnel from disclosing” documents in the case “as necessary to facilitate the enforcement of criminal law,” he pointed out.

One purpose of the press conference was to “deter future crimes” by Tren de Aragua “by publicly demonstrating that federal law enforcement would prioritize the prosecution and punishment of violent offenses” they committed, Boutros argued.

“The U.S. Attorney reasonably believed that disclosure of the arrests and charges of [Tren de Aragua] members helped facilitate the government’s enforcement of criminal law both in and outside of this district,” he wrote.

Boutros is being closely watched as he navigates a scandal unlike any faced by his recent predecessors, though. A chorus of local Democratic elected officials has insisted on his resignation, and a resolution calling for him to step down is moving through the Chicago City Council.

Boutros’ office issued an unusual statement responding to that resolution Tuesday, suggesting an ulterior motive behind the criticism. It said his office would “not be bullied into dropping its public corruption matters or closing out its newly opened ones.”

“No one faces this level of coordinated opposition and performative theatrics unless they are viewed as representing an existential threat to a system that is largely corrupt and broken” the statement read.

It added, “when this sort of coordinated panic sets in, it means that our federal leaders are on to something big.”